Scientists from Cardiff University have discovered specific conditions that occur along the ocean floor where two tectonic plates are more likely to slowly creep past one another as opposed to drastically slipping and creating catastrophic earthquakes.

For the first time, seismologists can characterize signals as a result of some industrial human activity on a continent-wide scale using cloud computing. In two recently published papers in Seismological Research Letters, scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory demonstrate how previously characterized “noise” can now be viewed as a specific signal in a large geographical area thanks to an innovative approach to seismic data analyses.

Applying deep learning to seismic data has revealed tremor and slip occur at all times—before and after known large-scale slow-slip earthquakes—rather than intermittently in discrete bursts, as previously believed.

A new approach to analyzing seismic data reveals deep vertical zones of low seismic velocity in the plumbing system underlying Alaska's Cleveland volcano, one of the most-active of the more than 70 Aleutian volcanoes

Presentations on natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes and their impacts will be held in Scott Hall and are open to the public at the Rutgers Geology Museum’s 52nd Annual Open House. There will also be hands-on activity sessions for kids, a mineral sale and rock and mineral identification in Scott Hall, and make-and-take stations in the Rutgers Geology Museum. Field Station Dinosaurs will bring its baby Hadrosaurus puppet and will also offer hands-on activities for visitors. All events are free and no preregistration is required.

Holidaying in a disaster zone might seem crazy, but "volunteer tourism" can actually help communities recover from natural disasters, a new study finds. And it can offer a unique and rewarding experience for volunteers, if done carefully.

An international team of geoscientists led by Caltech has used fiber optic communications cables stationed at the bottom of the North Sea as a giant seismic network, tracking both earthquakes and ocean waves.

The release of more than 50 floating sensors, called Mobile Earthquake Recording in Marine Areas by Independent Divers (MERMAIDs), is increasing the number of seismic stations around the planet. Scientists will use them to clarify the picture of the massive mantel plume in the lower mantel lying below the South Pacific Ocean. This effort will also establish one of the most comprehensive overviews of seismic activity across the globe. Frederik Simons will discuss this international effort during the marine seismoacoustics session of the 178th ASA Meeting.

Stormquakes are a recently discovered phenomenon characterized by seismic activity originating at the ocean floor due to powerful storms. Heavy storms, like hurricanes or nor'easters, can create seismic waves as large as magnitude 3.5 quakes. These tremors caused by the effects of storms on the seafloor are what researchers call stormquakes. Catherine de Groot-Hedlin, who was part of the group that first observed stormquakes, will discuss their properties and meteorological significance at the 178th ASA Meeting.

A UTokyo team transformed its UNICORN code into an AI-like algorithm to more quickly simulate a tectonic plate deformation that leads to earthquakes. The team ran UNICORN at 416 petaflops and gained a 75-fold speedup from a previous state-of-the-art solver using the Summit supercomputer.

The DHS S&T’s Next Generation First Responder Program recently partnered with public safety agencies from the City of Birmingham and Jefferson County, Alabama, for the NGFR – Birmingham Shaken Fury Operational Experimentation (OpEx).

A Florida State University researcher has uncovered a new geophysical phenomenon where a hurricane or other strong storm can spark seismic events in the nearby ocean as strong as a 3.5 magnitude earthquake.

Under the guise of a fictional 7.7 magnitude earthquake, S&T deployed teams and technologies to several Shaken Fury exercise locations in the region to improve response and recovery capacities and assist state and local organizations with the adoption of new technologies and protocols.

Most people over age 50 say they’re ready for natural disasters and emergency situations, but a new national poll shows that many haven’t taken key steps to protect their health and well-being in case of severe weather, long-term power outages or other situations.

Scientists used distributed acoustic sensing along a 20-mile segment of the Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) Dark Fiber Testbed to record seven months of passive seismic data. Their work showed how unused fiber-optic cable could serve as a highly sensitive earthquake sensor.

A U.S. team is in Mumbai this month working on disaster management curriculum with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). TISS is the only institution in all of Mumbai — one of the world's largest cities with 19 million people — to offer a degree in disaster management.

With the recent earthquakes in early July in southern California, it is more important than ever to be able to accurately predict when and where the next one will occur. A researcher at Missouri S&T is working to do just that by studying past seismic waves produced by earthquakes.

Sandia National Laboratories researchers, as part of a group of National Nuclear Security Administration scientists, have wrapped up years of field experiments to improve the United States’ ability to differentiate earthquakes from underground explosions, key knowledge needed to advance the nation’s monitoring and verification capabilities for detecting underground nuclear explosions.

Three teams who applied novel machine learning methods to successfully predict the timing of earthquakes from historic seismic data are splitting $50,000 in prize money from an open, online Kaggle competition hosted by Los Alamos National Laboratory and its partners.

Multi-fault earthquakes can span fault systems of tens to hundreds of kilometers, with ruptures propagating from one segment to another. During the last decade, seismologists have observed several cases of this complicated type of earthquake rupture, and are now relying on supercomputers to provide detailed models to better understand the fundamental physical processes that take place during these events, which can have far reaching effects.

Researchers at the University of Iowa and the United States Geologic Survey report data gathered by orbiting satellites can yield more information about destructive earthquakes and can improve aid and humanitarian response efforts. The researchers looked at satellite data from several recent, large-magnitude earthquakes.

Some have dreamt of creating the perfect cloak to make buildings impervious to stress waves caused by bombs, earthquakes or other calamities. Sorry, researchers are now dashing the dream. But there's still hope. It is possible to make imperfect, real-world cloaks that will actually do some good.

A swarm of more than 3,000 small earthquakes in the Maple Creek area (in Yellowstone National Park but outside of the Yellowstone volcano caldera) between June 2017 and March 2018 are, at least in part, aftershocks of the 1959 quake.

Externally bonded fiber-reinforced polymer composite retrofits are a promising, relatively inexpensive technology that can strengthen buildings, bridges and other existing structures made of reinforced concrete. Seeing how these retrofits responded to a 7.1 magnitude earthquake can determine their durability and whether they can help in designing more resilient structures.

Researchers discovered that the practice of subsurface fluid injection often used in oil and gas exploration could cause significant, rapidly spreading earthquake activity beyond the fluid diffusion zone. The results account for the observation that human-induced earthquake activity often surpasses natural earthquake hotspots.

A powerful computational study of southern California seismic records has revealed detailed information about a plethora of previously undetected small earthquakes, giving a more precise picture about stress in the earth’s crust.

A new, free, open-source software reliably predicts how damage from hurricanes, ice storms, earthquakes, and other extreme events will restrict power delivery from utility grids. The Severe Contingency Solver for Electric Power Transmission is the only software available—commercially or open-source—that reliably supports analysis of extreme events that cause widespread damage.

Masum Bhuiyan, a doctoral candidate in The University of Texas at El Paso's computational science program, said he first became interested in using data culled from seismic activity after observing earthquakes in 2014 in Arizona and several stock markets since 2008 during the time of the global financial crisis.
Since then, he has honed his ability to use stochastic models such as stochastic volatility and stochastic differential equations to create forecasts.

In a first-ever study of two of the largest deep earthquakes ever recorded in human history, FSU researchers reveal new and surprising information about our planet’s mysterious, ever-changing interior.

Mar. 11 marks the 8th anniversary of Japan’s Tohuku earthquake. The tsunami that followed led to the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which spread radioactive materials throughout the area. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) Mar. 1 blog explores the impact this has had on the farming village of Iitate, Japan.

DHS S&T and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed standard test methods for robots, which the Japanese government is now beginning to apply directly to their Fukushima cleanup efforts.

Researchers at Berkeley Lab have turned dark fiber owned by the DOE Energy Sciences Network into a highly sensitive seismic activity sensor that could potentially augment the performance of earthquake early warning systems currently being developed in the western United States.

Seismologists use waves generated by earthquakes to scan the interior of our planet, much like doctors image their patients using medical tomography. Earth imaging has helped us track down the deep origins of volcanic islands such as Hawaii, and identify the source zones of deep earthquakes.

Hospitalizations for cardiovascular disease rose precipitously in Orleans and Jefferson parishes after Hurricane Katrina. The increase in rates lasted for more than one month after landfall and rates were higher among the older black population, compared to the older white population.